INT committed to introducing an HGV road-user charge
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christopher.waltonfarbi.co.uk TRUCK OPERATORS can expect a lorry road-user charge within the next five years after Secretary of State for Transport Philip Hammond confirmed that the Department for Transport (Df 1') is committed to its introduction.
The policy was part of the coalition agreement following the election, hut the DfT has been silent on any further details, However, speaking on Monday this week at the lirst meeting of the Transport Committee since the election, flammond said the government is pressing ahead with the scheme.
"The coalition government has ruled out the notion of national road-user charging other than for HGVs. where we have a commitment for a lorry road-user charge for existing road infrastructure," he said.
Further details are expected after the summer when the Dirs budget will be finalised by the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Hammond also added that the DtT would have to look for new sources of finance for road building projects and he said there was the potential for new toll roads to be built in the UK, if they could justify a cost-benefit analysis.
"Transport investment has a huge role to play in supporting economic growth." he told the committee. "When you talk to businesses about what government can do to support them, and support the growth of their businesses, pretty much top of everybody's list is investment in transport infrastructure."
Hammond also said that the DfT would be -very happy to considerproposals for a national rail freight line, running in the west of the country from the Channel Tunnel to Glasgow — which Labour MP Kelvin Hopkins estimated would remove some five million HGV journeys from roads per year.